Carrier
by silvercopycat
Summary: AU. Implied Blindshipping. Carriers have only one purpose: do whatever it takes to carry souls over to the other side.


**Title:** Carrier

**Genre:** Fantasy/Supernatural

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** Implied AY. Carriers have only one purpose: do whatever it takes to carry souls over to the other side.

**Disclaimer:** I'm just a dirt-poor fan still in school.

**Notes:** Messy, short, and just jumps everywhere. Please read and review anyway? And if you're confused, just think of anything. Atemu and Yuugi could be cracked-up occults if you want (except they're not...)

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Yuugi crouched down next to the soul that had already lost its outermost glow. It barely flickered as Yuugi let his hands ghost over it, stroking the dim light with a gentle caress. Growing bolder, Yuugi cradled it with his palms. The soul seemed to tremble as the carrier gathered it into his arms, cooing at it softly.

The fragile light flared agitatedly, sending little sparks everywhere. The carrier let out a sigh, and softly set the soul back down.

"Having trouble?"

"Atemu," Yuugi affirmed, barely turning his head even to look at the other carrier. He only had eyes for the soul in front of him as its glow continued to diminish, little by little. He reached out and carefully nudged the soul, which refused to move again.

"It's still attached," the older carrier noted, crossing his tanned arms together.

"I know," Yuugi sighed. He bent down and drew his face near the soul. "It's not ready to leave its body yet."

"You could forcibly pull it away," Atemu said. Yuugi gave him the look, and Atemu added, "Or, help it fulfill whatever reason it has to stay. You know, what humans say about ghosts; how they have unfinished business in the world. It's pretty much the same with souls."

Biting his lower lip, Yuugi said, "But Atemu, it won't talk to me."

Drumming his fingers on his folded arms, Atemu asked, "Where's the body?"

Yuugi nodded his head at a still form lying in the grass nearby. Atemu approached the body and examined it. The soul had belonged to a teenager boy from the looks of it, still young and lively up until his death. His golden hair covered half of his face. Various bruises and scrapes on his arms and legs indicated a rough life, most likely filled with fighting.

Atemu's scarlet eyes took in the knife. The knife itself was fairly unremarkable, short and blunt and useless in a fight, unless one lunged around with it like a fool. It laid carelessly next to the body, blood-stained and glinting in the faint light. The wound on the boy's chest matched the knife's edge perfectly.

He paused at the sight of what seemed to be a dog tag clenched in the boy's fist.

"I think his name is Jou," Atemu said, reading the carved characters.

"Jou, huh?" Yuugi reached out to touch the soul, only to have it tremble and flutter an inch or so away. "It's a nice name."

"Have you tried looking into the soul's mind?" Atemu was leaning over Jou, brushing away the blond bangs and looking at the human's expression. It was deceptively peaceful, as if he had died naturally in his sleep instead of being stabbed in the chest.

Yuugi blinked and whipped his head around. "I hadn't thought of that."

Chuckling lowly, the tanned carrier sat on his heels. "Why aren't you doing it now?"

"Hmm," Yuugi hummed in his throat. He touched the edges of the soul's tiny glow and began to shift through Jou's memories. He turned them aside like the pages of a new book, unfamiliar but comforting like a stranger's warm embrace.

Jou hadn't had a happy childhood. It was blemished and scarred, and the wound in his heart seemed to had only just covered it up. It still laid dormant in his soul, like a dark, hurting bruise that refused to go away. Skimming past the older memories, Yuugi blinked at Jou's more recent thoughts, most of them largely concerned with a girl with red hair and a soft expression on her face.

The soul throbbed slightly.

"...I think it's because of his sister," Yuugi said slowly, looking through the memories to confirm it.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Atemu said, running a hand through his strange, tricolored hair. "We've spent too much time on one soul already."

The younger carrier suppressed a laugh, and once more gathered the soul into his arms. The soul shook, but settled after a moment—it seemed to understand Yuugi's new purpose. Yuugi patted his back, where several other souls were resting and flickering worriedly. His small movement seemed to reassure them, and they quieted.

"I think it's time we find her," Yuugi said happily.

"What's her name?" Atemu shifted and reached out a hand towards Yuugi, who took it and tucked the soul under his other arm.

"Shizuka."

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End file.
